Is the Great Resignation 2.0 Here?
Are You Prioritizing Employee Retention?
Well, it’s no secret, we’ve referenced The Great Resignation before. You know, the idea that started in 2021 when a voluntary mass resignation of employees began amid the COVID-19 epidemic. Pay stagnation in the face of rising living expenses, few chances for professional growth, unfavorable work conditions, a lack of perks, rigid remote work regulations, and persistent job unhappiness were some of the most often mentioned reasons for resignation.
The danger of employee turnover, as self-reported, is at its highest level since 2015.
Gallup’s recent survey (conducted in May 2024) revealed that half of American workers (51%) are either actively looking for or observing a new job. The downstream effects of The Great Resignation a few years ago, caused SOME stabilization of voluntary employee turnover rates; however, long-term commitment to one’s employer is currently at its lowest point in nine years. (🤯)
Employee retention challenges are emerging again, and failing to act could lead to costly replacements in the future. Gallup estimates that the replacement of leaders and managers costs around 200% of their salary, the replacement of professionals in technical roles is 80% of their salary, and frontline employees 40% of their salary.
Make it stand out
A recent email from Gallup we received reads, in part, “Managing people is harder than ever - but it’s also more important than ever… Managers hold the key to the engagement of your entire organization.”
Gallup is also known for creating the statistic 70% of engagement is up to the manager.
“But really, Gina, what do we DO?”
Good News? From the standpoint of the employee, at least, employee dissatisfaction and voluntary departures are extremely preventable.
Here are some actions to start or consider:
Examine your pay structures. Eliminate disparities and wages that would require a family to collect food stamps in order to eat - yes, do the math on your lowest wages & compare to cost of living.
Provide people skills trainings for managers and people eligible to be promoted into management.
If you’re a smaller organization with limited professional development budget, look into low-cost online options where people can sign up as individuals to participate, and then reimburse them - promptly - for the training.
If you don’t have a professional development budget, create one.
Offer voluntary assistance for personal growth: coaching, mediation for conflicts, mental health support, emotional intelligence assessments, sabbaticals.
EAPs, or employee assistance programs, fall into this category. If you’re big enough to offer health insurance, you should also be providing additional assistance. Your insurance broker may have options for you.
Offer designated “quiet time” hours when people don’t have meetings (regardless of location).
Encourage people to use all their time off, and keep enough staff on board so that work still gets done while any given employee is out, rather than piling up.
Walk the walk on this: Take all your time off so that your staff don’t believe that they need to avoid PTO in order to get ahead or become successful.
Don’t require video or even facetime (in the older sense of the word) for all the meetings. Audio or sometimes even emails can work just fine.
Consider an old fashioned “walk and talk” for some meetings - even group meetings might work out this way. Just set the time and make sure people know what number to dial, then everyone leaves their house to take a walk while having the conversation. It’s one of the few multitasking items we approve of here at CM&F! (Walks can be indoors - ever heard of mall walking?)
Consider getting an external perspective:
Trainers, facilitators, consultants - we can help.
If you don’t think you need training and you don’t know who to call as a consultant, why wouldn’t you contact us?
And if you don’t want to contact us, well, try submitting something to the Mid-Atlantic Facilitators Network’s Find A Facilitator function. Lots of well-trained facilitators, some of whom are excellent organizational development practitioners, will review your request and contact you directly.
